Visited Camp Sparta in Lincolnshire yesterday, here aa breakdown of my thoughts and review of the site if you will for anyone thinking of paying them a visit.
Pros
The site itself is awesome, a 31 acre complex on an old RAF barracks consisting of 15 buildings, with roads and large outside areas in between. This not only means you can play a variety of different games and really mix things up, but also that there is literally a role here for everyone and every type of player and gun from Snipers and DMRs right down to compact SMG and pistol users.
The Marshals were really good, only had one instance all day of someone suspected of not calling hits but wasn't the marshals fault. Overall they kept a great eye on games and made sure they were running smoothly, helped by the majority of players playing fairly and honestly. Only one suspected not hit caller and another player who cracked a door open just enough to stick his pistol through and shoot after just been told in the briefing this was not allowed. But yeah, neither the marshals fault. You always get the odd dickhead who'll cheat or at least try to as soon as their back is turned.
Facilities were really good, the car park had plenty space for everyone and was literally right next to the rooms used for equipment and gearing up. So, if like me you take a lot of crap (some say too much), it saved me making multiple 2-3 minute runs to and from the car. The gearing up area was large and had plenty tables and space for everyone, to need to jostle or get there early for a good spot, almost everyone could have had a large table to themselves if the wanted. I imagine it gets busier, but still, there was plenty more space still available and having room to spread your gear out on a table was welcome. The toilets were also proper indoor toilets, not as clean as 5* hotel, but a million times nicer than a porterloo for sure.
The freedom to use the entire site was great. All but 2 of the buildings were in play and you could use them if you so wished. For me this been my first visit didnt lead to much, more than once I entered a building thinking I could cut through to the other side to flank the other team or get round them only to find dead ends a dark ( pitch black ) corridors. But I'm sure with greater knowledge and experience of the site you could really get to know your way around the site and all its buildings, most of which were of considerable size too, each one like entering a mini maze with many of the entrances and exits sealed off and entry only gained at certain points. Also, just making your way down a dark interior corridor with just a flashlight and laser on your gun for light felt awesome. My first experience playing indoors at all and I liked it.
Cons
The Morning briefing took far too long. They had some technical issues with their projector apparently, but even so, It took the piss a\ bit just how long it took things to get going in the morning. I arrived just after half 8 and it was almost 11 before the first game was under way. Now I hate been rushed, I like having time to arrive, get my kit sorted, gas up and load up etc, have a smoke and morning coffee etc. But almost having enough time to watch a Lord of the Rings movie between arriving and getting playing is a bit of a joke. People were just milling around for ages before they pulled us into the morning briefing, and the briefing itself was overly long. I get you always have to cater to the new players and rentals too, but theirs rule explanation and then theirs giving a 20+ minute power point presentation and it just felt way too excessive. Explaining the rules shouldn't take longer than 5 minutes, and then a few more minutes to go over anything specific to that site regards safety, safe zones, where not to go etc. After the briefing there was yet more milling around before we were finally assembled and given the first game
There was a game played in the afternoon where there was a serious imbalance in the teams, caused by an avoidable situation. The teams in the morning were very balanced it seemed, but we started the afternoon playing a game attacking 2 buildings, and the other team clearly had more than a few people who had done this before and knew the drill. The drill, it became clear, was to stock up on grenades galore and camp at the top of the stairs in each building, making it nearly impossible to get any further than half way up the stairs. I seriously lost count of how many grenades they used, but it was a lot, and after half an hour we'd got absolutely no where, with every member of their team camped at the top of staircases, not a single player on the ground floor, just rolling grenade after grenade down on us between mag dumps any time any of us popped our head and shoulders round the corners with our guns up. Now, we could have made some headway if we'd had grenades of our own, several times we made a bit of a push and got into positions where we could have chucked a grenade to help take the top of the stair cases, the marshals eventually tried offering advise and were telling us to use grenades too, but none of our team had any, none. The other team had apparently bought several hundred over dinner time. All it would take is for them to give a heads up that in the afternoon, knowing how that particular game plays out, that it might be a good idea for atleast a few people on each team to grab some grenades. To their credit they saw how we were stuck in a none win scenario and stopped the game after half an hour or so, but it was just a frustrating game really, either make both teams aware of the situation or limit the use of grenades to a set number per team and also make them have players spread out a bit with some on the ground floor. So that the attacking team doesn't find 20 odd guns aimed at them at the top of each staircase.
Other than those 2 little rants which perhaps made it sound like I didnt enjoy the day, I have to say I really did. The site itself and facilities were top draw and was well marshalled by and large. Just a shame it took so long to get going and that a heads up wasn't given for the first game of the afternoon. Overall though, a great site. I'll definitely go back at some point, just a shame its almost 90 minutes away. If it were closer to me I'd certainly familiarise myself with this site a lot more.